New Hampshire Primaries Feature Key Senate and House Races

Rep. Chris Pappas, D-N.H., is a candidate for U.S. Senate. President Donald Trump’s endorsement will be put to the test once again on September 8, 2026, in New Hampshire’s primaries, where liberal Democrats are also looking to secure victories. Granite State voters are among the last in the country to choose nominees for November’s elections, and Tuesday’s contests will set the matchup in one of this year’s most competitive Senate races. Trump is hoping his preferred candidate, former GOP Sen. John Sununu, prevails in the primary. On the Democratic side, Rep. Chris Pappas is looking to fend off a democratic socialist opponent for his party’s Senate nomination. A supporter snaps a photo of former Sen. John E. Sununu as he campaigns for the GOP nomination for his old seat in Berlin, N.H., on August 22. A divisive Democratic battle is also unfolding in one of the state’s competitive House seats, which Pappas left open, while another House Democrat is facing a primary challenger from the left. Here’s what to watch on September 8 in New Hampshire, where poll closing times vary by municipality, ranging from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. ET. Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s retirement opened up this Senate seat, and Republicans are hoping to make the race competitive in November. Pappas, who has won in a battleground seat since 2018, is considered the front-runner for his party’s nomination. He appears to be gearing up for the general election, focusing his campaign on addressing high costs and political corruption and has already launched an ad attacking a potential Republican opponent. However, Pappas is facing a challenge from the left from Karishma Manzur, a scientist and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America who supports progressive policies like “Medicare for All.” Manzur has criticized Pappas over his support and funding for Israel, stating he is “enabling genocide.” The GOP primary includes multiple candidates, but the race is largely between Sununu and another former senator, Scott Brown, who previously held a Massachusetts seat for three years, ran for the New Hampshire Senate in 2014, and served as Trump’s ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa during the president’s first term. Trump backed Sununu, who also has support from Senate Majority Leader John Thune and the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Sununu represented New Hampshire in the Senate from 2003 through 2008 after serving in the House. He lost his bid for re-election in 2008 to Shaheen, but Republicans believe his well-known family name could give him a boost: Sununu’s brother and father both served as governors. Trump lost the Granite State by just 3 points in 2024, giving Republicans hope about making this open-seat race competitive two years later. The GOP has not won a Senate race there since 2010, but New Hampshire does have a Republican governor, Kelly Ayotte. Ayotte is running for a second two-year term as one of two GOP governors up for re-election in a state Trump lost two years ago. Ayotte is not facing any major primary challengers. The Democratic nominee is likely to be former New Hampshire Executive Council member Cinde Warmington, who also faces no major competitors and unsuccessfully sought her party’s gubernatorial nomination in 2024. The Democratic Party’s divides are on full display in a primary in Pappas’ now-open seat in the 1st District, which includes Manchester, the state’s biggest city. A crowded field of candidates is running in both parties’ primaries, and the race could be competitive in the fall. Pappas won re-election by 8 points in 2024, but then-Vice President Kamala Harris carried the district by just 2 points. Two of the front-runners are viewed as the most establishment Democrats: Marine veteran Maura Sullivan, the former congressional candidate and former Defense Department official, and Stefany Shaheen, a health advocate, former Portsmouth City councilwoman, and daughter of the retiring senator. Two other top Democrats — Christian Urrutia, an Army National Guard officer, and Carleigh Beriont, a union organizer — are running as staunch progressives. Heath Howard, who was backed by the local Democratic Socialists of America chapter, is still on the ballot but dropped out of the race and endorsed Beriont. On the Republican side, Trump and other Republican leaders have endorsed auto businessman Anthony DiLorenzo. He is facing competition for the GOP nod from state Rep. Brian Cole and Hollie Noveletsky, a military veteran and CEO of her family iron company. In the state’s other congressional district, Democratic Rep. Maggie Goodlander is facing a primary challenge from state Rep. Paige Beauchemin, a former nurse who entered politics in 2023. The challenger is running as a progressive, calling for halting data center construction, new regulations on the artificial intelligence industry, “Medicare for All,” labeling Israel’s conduct in Gaza a “genocide,” and abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Although Beauchemin’s campaign is trying to tap into some of the progressive energy that has helped challengers topple incumbents this year, she has struggled to raise money — bringing in $44,000 to Goodlander’s $4.2 million — and hasn’t drawn any outside support from progressive groups. Goodlander is a first-term lawmaker who recently gained national prominence as one of the national security-minded Democratic lawmakers who made a video telling the military that members could refuse illegal orders. She also worked in the Biden White House and Justice Department and is married to former Biden national security adviser Jake Sullivan. Lily Tang Williams, a former Colorado libertarian who has since moved to the state, is expected to win the Republican nomination.